Ablett injury hurting crowds

GARY Ablett’s ongoing absence has plunged the Suns into the red with gate-takings already more than $500,000 below budget.

The Suns’ finals hopes are in tatters and the year is a financial write-off as fans avoid Metricon Stadium while the AFL’s biggest drawcard sits in the stands.

“There is no doubt the crowds have been down on our targets,’’ Suns CEO Andrew Travis said.

“We had raised our targets at the start of the year. Crowds grew 18 per cent last year and we were looking for continued growth.

“That hasn’t eventuated and that is linked to on-field performance and the injuries have been a major contributor to that.’’

As well as injuries to Ablett, Jaeger O’Meara and David Swallow, scheduling has also been a major problem for the Suns.

The Collingwood game this season attracted just over 16,000 because it was held in May, while in 2013 and ’14 it was during school holidays and attracted a large travelling Magpie army.

The Q Clash with the Brisbane Lions was also a nonevent as torrential rain in the lead-up led to a poor crowd of just 12,464.

Ahead of the club’s 100th game tomorrow, against Carlton, Travis said he was not concerned at Ablett’s continued absence.

On Thursday Ablett, the coaching staff and team medical staff made the decision not to select their superstar skipper for the match against the Blues, opting to give him another week to get his shoulder right.

Ablett was forced to undergo a shoulder reconstruction after crashing to the Metricon Stadium turf against Collingwood in July last year.

The dual Brownlow Medal winner resumed training with the side in the pre-season and lined up for round one this year but after the round two game against St Kilda, Ablett shelved his comeback, deciding his shoulder needed more time to heal.